Joseph Mallozzi's Blog! (SPOILERS For All SG Shows and Dark Matter)

[Jumper_One]

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November 15, 2010

Photos: Mike, Jelly, Maximus, Bubba, Lulu


THIS was the first sight to greet me when I walked into work this morning -

Most gloaters do their gloating verbally. Best Boy Mike goes one step further, celebrating Bailey’s Irish Creamers’ defeat of my Snow Monkeys with a painstakingly assembled collage. Obviously, someone has put their weekend scrapbooking classes to good use. Well, the Snow Monkeys may have been beaten this past weekend but, incredibly, they’re still one game out of playoff spot. Fortunately, they’ll be up against a much easier opponent this weekend in Tio. I mean, come on. Ten weeks into NFL Fantasy play and he still hasn’t picked a name for his team!

Watched an awesome Day 1 Mix of an equally awesome episode, Hope, today. Carl Binder is on a roll this season. Great performances and some really, really nice moments both humorous and touching.

Also, watched my cut of The Hunt this afternoon. The A, B, and C stories interweave nicely and, again, some nice character and comic beats peppered throughout. The T.J. flashbacks are officially filed away for next season – but that’s fine because it pushes me to come up with a T.J.-centered story. Both Carl and Brad came up with some terrific potential season 3 stories. Let’s just say the second season finale sets up a VERY INTERESTING scenario.

Keep those dish descriptions and photos coming for the “I Make the Best Whatever…” contest! I’m eager to start prepping YOUR recipes.

Since some of you asked, here’s the doggy ailment update...

[jelgate]

The S3 stories make me sad given the uncertainity of S3

[ScifigirlSG]

The T.J. flashbacks are officially filed away for next season – but that’s fine because it pushes me to come up with a T.J.-centered story. Both

hm.....they must've been given the green light for SGU S3.....or....

[Alan]

THERE NEEDS TO BE A SEASON 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all.

[KEK]

depends on what you consider supernatural. a recent study (scientific, and no scientist so far can find a problem with it), suggest we have precognitive powers. we can, essentially, see into the future. although this "power " is more discrete than actually seeing visions.


supernatural ? perhaps. does't anything ascension-related already feel like, well, the supernatural ? especially the weather control?

Anything that doesn't adhere to the natural laws of the universe. The word is pretty clarly defined.

hm.....they must've been given the green light for SGU S3.....or....

Or not.

[The Mighty 6 platoon]

And there's no other, clever alternative to that? If we're going to be served nothing but BSG/Lost finale style tripe then I'd rather not see it at all. At least then the integrity of the mythology would remain intact.

Hmm, how's your time travel machine? Mine doesn’t seem to be working, but you seem to have managed to jump into the future and see SGU's finale. Let's maybe wait till we see it, or at least get some sort of spoilers even before jumping to conclusions. Jeez, it’s almost as if your gunning for the major davis panicked prophecy post of doom award.

[KEK]

Hmm, how's your time travel machine? Mine doesn’t seem to be working, but you seem to have managed to jump into the future and see SGU's finale. Let's maybe wait till we see it, or at least get some sort of spoilers even before jumping to conclusions. Jeez, it’s almost as if your gunning for the major davis panicked prophecy post of doom award.

I believe I said "If".

[thekillman]

Anything that doesn't adhere to the natural laws of the universe. The word is pretty clarly defined.

but we dont know all of those laws, there are still things that baffle scientists.

[Sami_]

but we dont know all of those laws, there are still things that baffle scientists.

Yeah, there is certainly a tendancy to label some things we don't understand as supernatural, people used to think illness for example had a supernatural cause. Nowadays the most common thing to label as supernatural would be the idea of the soul, for all we know humans do have souls and they have a natural explanation.

No matter what SGU comes up with I don't think it will be considered supernatural by most viewers, I expect SG-1 viewers skew towards the belief that science can explain anything and that everything has a natural cause.

[Jumper_One]

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November 16, 2010

Photos: Dog tags, Peter Kelamis, Patrick Gilmore, Lawren Bancroft-Wilson, Ashleigh, The Hunt cut notes


As I was walking into the Production Office this morning (after waiting some twenty minutes for the recycling guy to move his truck out from in front of my parking space), I ran into actor Peter Kelamis (SGU’s Adam Brody) who had just dropped off the cast’s crew gifts.

Check ‘em out -

Cool, no? A big thanks to the cast. Every time I have to remove the dog tags before taking a shower, I’ll think of them.

Speaking of the cast, yesterday marked the final (until, hopefully, next season) shooting day Mike and Julia. Today, we bid a fond farewell to Peter and Patrick.

I visited the set with Ashleigh and Lawren. I know, I know. I always get them confused too.

Anyway, as is tradition this time of year, both Ashleigh and Lawren head down to stage 4 to set up squatting rights to the various areas they intend to occupy during the hiatus.

The living arrangements are perfect of course. The kitchen only has prop food and the bathtub is actually an old crate that used to store a repair robot, but they call it home.

Following our set visit, we grabbed lunch at the truck. There, I witnessed something so shocking, so unbelievable, that I had to capture it on digital...

Check out eco-friendly, environmental know-it-all Ashleigh using a STYROFOAM CONTAINER for her lunch!!!

She claims she only went styrofoam because she didn’t bring her plate with her to set, but I believe that if she truly loved this planet, she would have walked all the way back to the office, picked up her plate, and walked all the way back to the catering truck (before walking all the way back to the office to eat). Shameful, really. Rumor has it she also requested extra styrofoam that she used to stuff her boots because they had a comfortable two inches of height.

This afternoon, I went to post where I had a visual effects spotting with Rick, Mark and Bones, then did the cut notes for The Hunt. As often happens when it comes time to lock my cut, the challenge isn’t how to implement the various notes but how to make sense of them. Specifically, my handwritten scrawl. 1. My handwriting is atrocious. 2. My handwriting is atrocious when I’m scribbling down notes quickly so I can continue watching my cut. 3. My handwriting is atrocious when I’m scribbling down notes quickly in the dark so I can continue watching my cut. Anyway, I was able to decipher most of what I’d written. And I’m sure you’ll have no problem doing the same. So here you go, the cut notes for The Hunt.

Spoiler warning!

Here’s an early review of tonight’s episode of SGU, Malice, from the gang at popculturezoo: http://popculturezoo.com/2010/11/mal...gate-universe/

Today’s blog entry is dedicated Riley. Very sorry to hear about Moochie.


Mailbag:

Gen writes: “Does Lulu have food allergies? I’m having trouble remembering if you’ve said so already or not. Anyway, an elderly Cocker Spaniel who we adopted into our family some years ago had a habit of chewing on her paws, along with occasional digestive ailments. The vet told us it was likely a food allergy, and suggested we either change her diet to a special dog food or that we start cooking her meals for her. We started off with the special food, but one night when she was feeling under the weather I ended up cooking for her. That was that. I cooked that goofy dog dinner every night for the rest of her life.”

Answer: What a great dog mom (or dad)! Lulu is certainly very particular about her food. She won’t eat raw and I have her on a special canned food for hypoallergenic dogs. Might try cooking for her. How do you think she’d like her foie gras? With a rhubarb compote?

BA writes: “Also, took your advice and bought a copy of “Revelation Space.” I LOVE THESE BOOKS! Reynolds is an amazing writer. I’ve burned through every one of his books, even his short stories.”

Answer: Hey, Brad, pleased to hear you’re enjoying the show (Tell your friends!) and equally pleased to hear you’re enjoying Alastair Reynolds. He’s a recent discovery and I love the fact that I still have several of his books to read. Show co-creator and Exec. Producer Brad Wright is also a recent Reynolds convert.

Viv writes: “If you are already working on the season two finale, when the mid-season finale has yet to air, how does this allow the writing team time to react to something that doesn’t air well? [...] The only show I know definite production info about is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which I think had more sets, actors, locations, and maybe special effects that an SGU episode, and by the end of each season, they were shooting the episodes a bare three weeks prior to airing.”

Answer: It takes us about six months from shooting to final and Buffy was a show that made use of visual effects as well, so I find it highly unlikely that they would have been shooting episodes three weeks prior to their airing. The realities of production simply don’t allow for that type of creative shifting.

Llyod67 writes: “I want your opinion : does Wraith feed on pregnant women?”

Answer: Don’t see why they wouldn’t.

Renegard writes: “Joe, could you provide some information on the Destiny’s FTL drive? Is the intergalactic hyperdrive in Daedalus-class ships faster?”

Answer: Ivon Bartok is putting together a special feature that will focus on SGU’s various tech elements, from FTL to shields. Watch for it!

Debra writes: “As for Bubba… do me a big favor? ***** slap your vet. Do it now, do it hard. Eyelashes cause horrific pain to the eyes. They should have fixed the eyelash problem LONG ago with entropic type surgery to prevent rubbing.”

Answer: Jelly had the procedure done long ago. Your comment spurred me to bring Bubba in this weekend for a check-up and referral to a specialist. Thanks.

Deena writes: “On a related note, are we going to see Varro pop up anytime soon?”

Answer: Varro…Varro…hmmm….doesn’t ring a bell…

Holloway writes: “However one issue that I can’t overlook, one that’s been agitating me since season one, is the handling and under usage of Greer.”

Answer: In season one, we set the groundwork for the series and tried to give each of our main players a spotlight episode (in Greer’s case, it was Lost). As we headed into season two, we broke down our stories and ensured that each main character would have one (or more) spotlight episodes. When it comes time to lining these episodes up in the production schedule, their placement is dictated by the overall season arc and ongoing storylines, so even if one character may seem light in the first half of the season, that won’t be the case for the second half. In the case of Greer, he’s got two big episodes in season 2 (in addition to a lot of terrific beats and throughlines in other episodes), but you’ll have to wait until the back half to see them: episode #213, Alliances, and episode #216, The Hunt. In fact, one of the things SyFy’s Erika Kennair remarked on during her last visit to the Stargate set was the significant development in both the Greer and T.J. characters this season.

[jmoz]

The ending has to be supernatural because nature rose from the big bang. The message couldn't have come from nature if nature as we know it didn't exist prior to the big bang that we know of.

Desperation has sunk in it seems.

[Jumper_One]

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November 17, 2010

Photo: Christopher Moore


Writers are busy people, so when I contact an author about the possibility of participating in our little book of the month club discussion, I always promise them that the process will be quick and relatively painless. They’re free to pick and choose among the questions sent, and under no obligation to meet any sort of deadline in turning around their responses. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter when they them send back. I’m just honored and thankful that they take the time to do so. Looming deadlines, works-n-progress, and even the minutiae of daily life have resulted in authors getting back to me weeks, occasionally months after the fact. All perfectly understandable and no less appreciated. On the flip side, I’ve received responses in mere days, sometimes hours – or, in the case of Chistopher Moore, about forty-five minutes!

So a BIG thank you to Chris for the super quick turnaround of a terrific Q&A that, interestingly enough, kicks off with a question from yours truly...

Joe writes: “I enjoyed Bloodsucking Fiends immensely and already have You Suck (and assorted other Chris Moore titles) on my daunting to-read pile. Still, as a former Masters student who happened to write his thesis on Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Fool remains my favorite. Any plans to tackle anymore of the bard’s works in similar fashion?

CM: Yes, as soon as I finish the book I’m working on I’m going to adapt Fool for the stage, then I’m going to write another book with Pocket, using more Shakespeare for the source material. Can’t say much more than that, now.

**snip**

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[Egle01]

Desperation has sunk in it seems.

??

Because you say the ending has to be supernatural? Spent much time in the writers' room, have we?

[thekillman]

The ending has to be supernatural because nature rose from the big bang. The message couldn't have come from nature if nature as we know it didn't exist prior to the big bang that we know of.

but it could be a message from the future!

[LtColCarter]

IDK if I like this "it has to be supernatural" ending stuff. I'm a big fan of supernatural shows...but Stargate isn't about that. SGU us very BSG-ish as it is...I hope TPTB don't make it even more so...